Equity indices in the Asia-Pacific region had a mixed showing on Thursday with South Korea’s Kospi (+8.4%) rebounding strongly after a last-minute labor agreement at Samsung Electronics averted a labor strike.
—Equity Markets—
Japan’s Nikkei: +3.1%
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng: -1.0%
China’s Shanghai Composite: -2.0%
India’s Sensex: -0.2%
South Korea’s Kospi: +8.4%
Australia’s ASX All Ordinaries: +1.4%
Softbank soared nearly 20% in Japan after it was reported that OpenAI will file for an IPO.
Australia
Australia lost jobs in April, leading the market to push out its forecast for the next rate hike from the Reserve Bank of Australia to August from June.
April Employment Change -18,600 (expected 16,700; last 23,300) and full Employment Change -10,700 (last 63,400).
April Unemployment Rate 4.5% (expected 4.3%; last 4.3%)
April Participation Rate 66.7% (expected 66.8%; last 66.8%).
April Credit Card Spending 2.9% yr/yr (last 2.1%)
flash May Manufacturing PMI 50.2 (last 51.3) and flash Services PMI 47.7 (last 50.7).
Bank Indonesia raised its policy rate by 50 basis points to 5.25% against expectations for a smaller increase.
Japan
Japan’s extra budget is expected to reach JPY3 trillion, but Prime Minister Takaichi has not confirmed that amount yet.
flash May Manufacturing PMI 54.5, as expected (last 55.1) and flash Services PMI 50.0 (last 51.0).
April trade surplus JPY240 bln (expected deficit of JPY230 bln; last surplus of JPY90 bln).
April Imports 9.7% yr/yr (expected 8.3%; last 10.9%) and Exports 14.8% yr/yr (expected 9.3%; last 11.5%).
March Core Machinery Orders -9.4% m/m (expected -7.7%; last 13.6%); 5.9% yr/yr (expected 4.5%; last 24.7%)
South Korea
April PPI 2.5% m/m (last 1.7%); 6.9% yr/yr (last 4.1%)
Hong Kong
April CPI -0.1% m/m (last 0.0%); 1.7% yr/yr (last 1.7%)
New Zealand
April trade surplus NZD1.92 bln (expected NZD980 mln; last NZD430 mln)
India
flash May Manufacturing PMI 54.3 (last 54.7) and flash Services PMI 58.9 (last 58.8)